OLDS — The Crime Severity Index (CSI) in Olds fell by 26.6 per cent last year compared to 2023, falling from 96.2 to 70.6, according to the Olds RCMP.
“The largest driver to the decrease in CSI from 2023 to 2024 was a decrease in break and enter offences. There were 31 less in 2024 than 2023. This caused a CSI decrease of 11.7 points,” an RCMP analysis of Statistics Canada's annual July report says.
The Olds RCMP detachment's catchment area stretch north to Highway 587 in Bowden, south to the Didsbury area, east to the Three Hills area and west to Range Road 40.
For CSI reporting purposes, the detachment's area outside of Olds -- including Bowden, Torrington and Wimborne, parts of Mountain View County and parts of Kneehill County -- is reported separately as rural.
In the Olds RCMP's rural area, the CSI “essentially flat-lined from ‘23 to ’24, about a one per cent reduction,” Olds RCMP Cpl. Leif Svendsen said during an interview with the Albertan.
In 2024, the CSI in the detachment's rural area was 53.54 down from 2023's 54.42. Both years registered about half of what 2021 was when the rate stood at 119.21. In 2022, the rate had also lessened to 91.92.
The CSI is a measure of the volume and severity of police-reported crime in a town, city, province, territory, or the country.
It measures the overall seriousness of crime from one year to the next by tracking the prevalence of crime within a community and the seriousness of the crimes committed.
“If you have a reduction in persons crime -- say, if we had a murder, the most serious offence in my opinion that could take place -- our crime severity index value would increase significantly,” Svendsen said.
“Even one homicide in a detachment area or in a jurisdictional area for a police force could severely impact that crime severity index number that we are assigned over that reporting period.
“If persons crimes are low, then our crime severity index would be lower.
“Volume also comes into play too. If we had one homicide versus 10 homicides, then the crime severity index score would increase, based on that as well.”
Provincewide, the 2024 Statistics Canada CSI report, released by Alberta RCMP on July 31, said there was a 6.9 per cent decrease in the CSI across Alberta RCMP jurisdictions compared to 2023.
The crime scores in 147 different Alberta RCMP jurisdictions that are measured for the CSI are the second lowest they’ve been since 2015.
Town of Olds staff offered their thoughts on what drove the CSI drop in the town between 2023 and 2024. They include:
• the addition of a dedicated crime reduction position at the Olds RCMP detachment,
• enhanced collaboration between the Town of Olds, municipal enforcement, RCMP and local landlords,
• focused action to reduce theft, vandalism, and lower‑level drug activity.
“While the Crime Severity Index is only one measure of community safety, it is an encouraging sign that Olds continues to be a safe, welcoming, and family‑friendly place to live,” the release said.
“The Town (of Olds) continues to work closely with our RCMP detachment to plan for our future needs and community growth.”
Svendsen agreed with town staff's assessment.
He was asked why the Olds RCMP detachment had a dedicated crime reduction position. Shouldn’t all RCMP officers be dedicated to crime reduction?
“Well, we are, we are, but general duty members, uniform members, have obviously specific roles and responsibilities to their jobs,” Svendsen said.
“Our core policing function is to provide a uniform presence of the community and area, so in an overt manner, in uniform, taking calls for service.”
Svendsen said the Olds detachment’s crime reduction officer “works hand-in-hand with our uniform members, but he also works with our south district crime reduction unit in terms of intelligence, intelligence gathering.
His role enables other general duty officers to focus on their investigations as well as serving as first responders.
“General duty, more often than not, we're more of a reactive presence. We are proactive in the sense of conducting patrols, being visible in the community, both from a law enforcement perspective, also a community policing perspective,” Svendsen said.
“However, the crime reduction member is typically very much more of a proactive position.”
“The crime reduction member will actively assist in investigations that are taking place at the moment, because he can dedicate his time and effort to that investigation, as opposed to having to say, be distracted by his radio."
